Well, My MLG trip this year was both terrific and disappointing. Friday was a great time talking with other players and pros, checking out the venues(Alienware was there and you get to play Starcraft 2 on it!), and watching some games on the main stage. However the stage and presentation are where they really fell short and what caused the majority of my disappointment.
Last year in Dallas, they had setup matches back to back with the next competitors waiting for the last casted game to end so theirs could begin. This year everything was done differently, as there was only 1 stage with only 2 computers, which led to nearly 30-45 minutes between matches as players packed up there things, left the stage, and the next competitors came up setup, and warmed up, all in all, it took quite awhile. With no entertainment or activity going on between matches, people were just waiting around doing nothing, staring at the two people getting ready and getting antsy.
But I can be patient, I can understand the prep work needed mentally and physically to make sure the game your are going to play will be as entertaining as we all expect them to be. Saturday, games we set to start at 10 am, but it wasn't announced that no game would actually be casted until Noon. Still I waited. The first game would be of Huk so the match would be well worth it. My favorite player back from Korea...The game was not so entertaining as Huk swept through him on one base 2 straight games in a row. Don't get me wrong, Huk is an epic player, But after two hours of waiting, I was expecting an epic match, I guess thats what the finals are for, however, after what happened next, I gave up altogether on MLG for the weekend.
The next match was Grubby vs dde, I have been following Grubby's stream and was excited to get to see him play for the first time at a MLG event. However lag hit the players and they were forced to postpone....for 2 hours at least, thats how long I stayed anyway before leaving and heading home. They reported that the lag was caused by the internet in the venue, but I have to defend the Dallas Convention Center here. Only the show match was experiencing lag, the main tournament area could be heard reporting and announcing matches for 2 rounds, a losers round and a winners round, so the lag was reserved to the show match alone. With only being 7 minutes into the game, it could have been restarted as neither one had a clear lead in the match. And this was finally agreed upon...3 hours later.
The crowd was getting somewhat impatient, and the casters volume was set very low to a point where nothing could be heard so that the players were not given any information on the match. Idra reported after the first match he could hear Day(9) and DJ Wheat during his match with Sockeh. It did not help that the other two games being played, Halo and Call of Duty, were both so loud we could hear what was going on better over there than our own venue. After 4 MLG events, you would think this would be fixed by either setting us apart, or investing in some sound proof booths, or better sound equipment. At last years Dallas, the seating conditions were awful(practically non existent), however we had our own area of the venue and helped to reduce the sound coming from the other venues.
All in all, this years MLG was significantly worse than last year. From what I have read, the MLG stream was rarely up and working, so even when I got home, I could not tell what was going on and gave up shortly thereafter.
Heres to hoping the North American Star League will be better, only 19 hours left till showtime!!!!
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